There are a few differences with movie theatres here than back in the States. All of the foreign teachers here (about 15 of us) wanted to go see the new Harry Potter film that just came out. As much as we love China and the culture, it’s always fun to do a western activity to remind us of home. We were afraid we’d need to buy tickets in advance since it is such a popular show, but were told by our Chinese friends that we should be safe to just show up and buy the tickets right before the show.
First, we had to find a theatre that was playing the movie in English (even if the movie is American made, most are shown dubbed over with Chinese). We asked our friend to call the theatre one day in advance to find out the show times so we could plan accordingly. Well, the theatre didn’t know yet! We thought that was so funny because I’m sure people back home bought their Harry Potter tickets weeks ago. We had to wait until today to get the showtimes. We arrived at the theatre and learned they charge a different price for each movie. Harry Potter was pretty expensive, so we ended up getting a scalper to get us half price tickets. This would be totally dodgy back home, but seemed to be the norm here. The food selection was funny as well: dried packaged meat chunks, a sort of carmel popcorn type thing and a few choices of soda (sans ice). No Jujy Fruits or Junior Mints or licorice or ice-cold drinks! They also give you assigned seats in the theatres here, which is actually kind of nice.
Something interesting about the Chinese language are cognates. A cognate is a word that is very similar in two different languages (any two languages). “Harry Potter” obviously doesn’t exist in Chinese, so they must create something that sounds like it using words/sounds they already have. It comes out something like “Hālì Bōtè”. Makes me laugh every time I hear it. On the same note, McDonalds becomes “Màidàngláo” and KFC is “Kendeji”. I was sitting by my Chinese friend Laura for the film and asked her how they were translating certain words (the movie was subtitled in Chinese). The word “muggle” became “maguo” which literally translates to “melon” so it didn’t make any sense to her and we thought it was so funny! Good thing she speaks awesome English, otherwise the movie would be really confusing. She did tell me that the Harry Potter series is much harder to follow than most other English sitcoms/movies because they have nothing to relate to it in their culture.
We loved this- we saw this ridiculous computer-graphic mural in another mall yesterday. It’s huge and just horrible. We were laughing pretty hard, I have no idea what they were thinking when they made it! Ron appears to be wearing pajamas and something is terribly wrong with Hermione’s body. Oh China, we love you.
Comments
9 responses to “Hālì Bōtè”
That mural is the funniest thing I have ever seen!!! I am still laughing:) I thought the movie was good-I just didn’t want it to end- even though my behind was dead sitting for sooo long. I am so glad you got to see it- but next time it’s me and you at midnight!!!!
I thought of you actually when we saw the mural, I knew you’d love it!
And the adventure continues. . . Looks like some really nice people in your teachers’ group. Here’s my “20 questions”: How do the Chinese people react when a new movie comes out? Do they stand in long lines for a midnight showing? Were they surprised to see a group of foreigners there who were excited to see the movie? How can they afford to go to an expensive movie when they don’t have that much $$. Is the theatre heated???? Did you buy any of the beef jerky (dried meat chunks?) (And what countries do the foreign teachers come from and are they all as young as you two?) Hey, I think I’ll go to Maidanglao and get a BigMai!
Good questions. I will answer them the best I can
1. I haven’t heard or noticed any hype for any movie since I’ve been here
2. I don’t think they have midnight showings very often and I doubt many people would even go. Chinese people (even young college ones) don’t stay out very late
3.I think they were interested in such a big group of foreigners altogether!
4. They don’t have as much money- like don’t have heat in their rooms etc. But have no problem spending money to go to a movie. Or another example, a student showed me a cellphone she bought the other day that cost $250!!
5. The theatre was heated actually, surprised me.
6. We did not buy meat chunks!
7. The foreign teachers are from Spain, France, England and the US
8. Hope you enjoyed your BigMai!
… And actually Marlena, you’ve to know that the teacher from France is very handsome !
Especially with his new haircut haha!
Very good Fafa–I’ll make note of that…..
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